Despite being away from his band, one UF student is finding success in the music business.
Eschaton, originally formed in 2007 in Providence, Rhode Island, is a technical death metal band that combines different elements of thrash and rhythmic grooves to offer a new music experience. Eschaton signed a record deal with Unique Leader Records in 2014 and will be releasing its first full-length album, titled “Sentinel Apocalypse,” on May 19, along with a music video within the next month.
Joshua Berry, 31, one of the band’s guitarists and the graduate assistant to the dean of UF’s College of Design, Construction and Planning, said after the mix was done for “Sentinel Apocalypse,” he started sending it out to different record labels and found Erik Lindmark, a co-founder of Unique Leader Records and guitarist in death metal band Deeds of Flesh.
“(Lindmark) understands, as a touring musician in technical death metal, how difficult it is,” Berry said. “So when I’m telling him our story, he gets it.”
Berry said he likes the fact that Lindmark has given Eschaton the artistic control many bands don’t get once they join record labels. He said Lindmark wants the band to be in its truest form because that is how he believes music should be produced.
“It was finally a record label that, like, from my perspective, empowered us in a way that was important for me as a musician but also offered us the business aspects,” Berry said.
The freedom that Unique Leader Records has given Eschaton has allowed each member of the band to express his unusual musical abilities and define the album as a whole.
“It varies from song to song,” said Jason Viteri, the 32-year-old vocalist of Eschaton. “It’s not, like, one solid concept.”
Viteri said he likes the idea of his lyrics portraying humanity being lost in the universe, the scary loneliness of existence and the place we all have in this world.
Darren Cesca, the 34-year-old drummer for Eschaton, has played in world-renowned bands like Goratory, Arsis, Pillory and Incinerate. He said he understands every band has a different writing style.
“I think that as we compose, that sort of dictates the direction of my drumming, and Josh has, I think, a particular style to himself,” Cesca said.
Bass player Pat Pattison recently joined the band in the winter and has also made a few transitions himself. Pattison, although he has played guitar since he was 9 years old, has changed to bass.
“It’s definitely tricky to do some of Eschaton’s bass riffs,” Pattison wrote in an email.
“The fast timing, the changes and stretched fretting is a challenge,” he said, “but I love a challenge.”
Pattison said he believes working on this album has allowed his musical ability to reach maximum capacity.
“I really think people are going to be blown away with this album,” Pattison said. “Eschaton is one of those bands that you just can’t comprehend what is happening inside your ears when you listen.”
[A version of this story ran on page 7 on 3/19/2015 under the headline “UF grad student’s band on signing record deal, music styles”]
Correction: The original article incorrectly stated that Joshua Berry was 34.
Eschaton, a band originally formed in Rhode Island, includes UF graduate student Joshua Berry. The band signed a record deal in 2014.
